The 66-year-old was present in court Thursday (local time) as his lawyers argued the case had been "irreparably tainted" by allegations a police detective acted improperly in the investigation.

He is charged with raping an unidentified female acquaintance in his hotel room in 2013 and performing a forcible sex act on a different woman in 2006.

It was an outcome many were hoping for, especially those involved in #MeToo and Time's Up movements which stemmed from the allegations levied against Weinstein past year. His lawyers had claimed that the case was tainted by police and prosecutorial misconduct. He also noted that prosecutors were not required to present all the evidence favourable to Weinstein to the grand jury.

Weinstein steps down from his car
Credit
Julio Cortez AP

The judge can agree with the defense, or he could schedule a trial.

Burke dismissed one charge against Weinstein earlier this year but he flatly rejected the defense motion on Thursday to toss out the other five counts.

Prosecutors say there is "ample evidence" to move forward.

Burke said in his order on Thursday that the dismissal of the one charge "did not infect the integrity of the other charges", and that there was "sufficient evidence" to support the remaining counts.

The proceedings lasted just 10 minutes, a remarkably quick resolution to a highly anticipated and pivotal appearance that the defense had hoped would end with the charges against Weinstein getting dropped.

Marisa Tomei, center, leaves New York Supreme Court after attending a hearing in the Harvey Weinstein sexual assault case, December 20, 2018, in New York. Now comes a potential day of reckoning for the disgraced movie mogul.

"It's a disappointment", Brafman said outside the courthouse after the judge declined to dismiss the case.

Weinstein, once one of the most powerful men in Hollywood, has been accused of sexually harassing and assaulting more than 80 women - and some of their supporters sat in the gallery of the courtroom for the highly anticipated hearing.

The next hearing is set for March 7. He is urging Burke to dismiss the case, writing in a recent court filing: "The only reasonably prudent decision would be to stop this chaos now".

Burke dismissed the charge related to Evans after the Manhattan district attorney's office acknowledged that Nicholas DiGaudio, the lead detective on the case, did not disclose information from a witness who said Evans had given her a conflicting account of the episode.

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